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My awesome track day experience with Indian Motorcycles in Bengaluru

My awesome track day experience with Indian Motorcycles in Bengaluru

My awesome track day experience with Indian Motorcycles in Bengaluru BHPian Aman2438 recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Hello everyone. Recently, I had the privilege of taking part in a track day experience with Indian Motorcycles, and it’s safe to say, this was a day I’ll never forget. Before I start let me give you all a brief introduction about myself. I have been passionate about automobiles since I was a small kid, my parents and relatives time and again recall various instances where i have surprised them with my love for cars. My love for automobiles naturally led me to pursue mechanical engineering and now, I’m working at Polaris in Bangalore. While cars have always been a big part of my life, motorcycles have recently captured my interest, and I’ve been hooked ever since. So when the opportunity for a track day with Indian Motorcycles came up, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. For those who don’t know Indian Motorcycles was completely purchased by Polaris in 2011. This track day was organized by Polaris and all expenses of the event were covered by Polaris only. This event is conducted exclusively for Polaris employees and it isn’t a marketing event for existing or future customers. Polaris promotes the culture of riding amongst its employees as it helps create more rider centric products. In US, Polaris employees get to take out Polaris vehicles on a regular basis but here in India since its not possible so our Bangalore office ensures that we get to experience our vehicles through these Ride events. We also had a similar track day at Dirty Drivez in Bangalore to experience our off road vehicles about which I will write about on a future date. Chances are many of you members might have heard of Indian Motorcycles but not of Polaris probably so probably it might be a good idea to rather start with a brief introduction about Polaris The journey of Polaris began in 1954 where Polaris started selling snowmobiles. Since then it has grown considerably and has entered diverse range of segments in the automotive industry and is the current leader in the powersports segment. Along with snowmobiles Polaris also makes ATVs, Side-by-Sides, motorcycles, electric utility vehicles, pontoons and riding gears too. It has several brands under its umbrella, some of them being Indian Motorcycles, Klim ( Yes the riding gear one), Bennington Pontoons, Aixam, Goupil. In India it also had a joint venture with Eicher Motors and they created a product called Multix. Unfortunately the JV didn’t last long and was called off after some years. I sharing about some of the Polaris products below just for some additional information. Here’s me driving the RZR during our ORV ride event. Will create a separate thread for it in the future. This vehicle just outright maginificent. It’s super fun to drive and makes you feel invincible on an off road trail. Slingshot: In 2014, the Slingshot was introduced, a three-wheeled roadster that blurs the line between motorcycle and sports car. Even after 10 years many people are still confused to whether to consider it as a motorcycle or a car. With the Slingshot Polaris basically wanted to give the rider the thrill of riding a bike while having comfort of a car. Officially its considered as an ‘Autocycle’ and in most places where it is sold the rider is mandated by law to wear an helmet as this as it does not have doors. Its not for sale in India because there’s no RHD configuration Slingshot in production. This vehicle is an attention magnet and looks really striking in person. It was outright the most popular vehicle on our office’s family day. Also its a large vehicle and these images don’t do any justice to it. That’s a 305mm rear tire. I have heard many people calling it poor man’s Batmobile Polaris Government and Defense: Considering the off road prowess of these vehicles it was natural that these vehicles would fit naturally in military environment. There are various different models that have an equivalent military versions. Even Indian Army owns a large fleet of Polaris vehicles for various use purposes. Polaris DAGOR: Here’s the MRZR leading the Special vehicles division on our 2024 Republic Day Parade: Polaris Racing: Polaris Racing is the motorsports division of Polaris. It participates in events ranging from snowmobile racing to off-road rallies and desert racing. Indian Motorcycles participates in Flat Track Racing with its FTR 750 from which FTR 1200 street bike was spawned. Indian also participates in King of Baggers. Indian Motorcycles Racing division: Polaris Off Road and Sebestian Loeb Racing won the 2024 Dakar rally in Side-by-Side Vehicle (SSV) T4 class: Motorcycles: In 1998, Polaris entered the motorcycle market by launching the Victory Motorcycles brand, which aimed to compete with American motorcycle manufacturers like Harley Davidson. It acquired Indian Motorcycles in 2011. In 2017 Polaris decided to shut down Victory to completely focus on Indian. Since we have a decent enough idea about Polaris now its time to get to know about Indian Motorcycles in depth: First of all let me be very clear that the name ‘Indian’ in Indian Motorcycles refers to the American Indians and not us Indians. Indian Motorcycles holds a prestigious place in the history of motorcycling, being one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers in the world. Founded in 1901 (same year when Royal Enfield was founded) by George M. Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom in Springfield, Massachusetts, Indian was originally called the Hendee Manufacturing Company. It became known as Indian in 1902. Here are some intersting motorcycles from its history. The first V-Twin in 1906: In 1911, Indian won the top three positions in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (TT) races, a feat that cemented its status as a high-performance brand. Oliver Godfrey on winning Indian racer: Some war time bikes produced by Indian: The first Indian Scout which was launched in 1920: The Indian Chief which was launched in 1922: Indian was also involved in land speed racing and set many records throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The movie ‘The World’s Fastest Indian was based on Burt Munro’s land speed record at the Boneville Salt Flats. He achieved speed of 295.44 km/h in 1967 with his modified 1920 Indian Scout. Burt Munro with his ‘World’s fastest Indian’: Anyone who wants to get into the details can visit the History section of the Indian Motorcycles site. Finally coming to the track day. The track selected for the event for track day was Aruani Grid in Dommasandra, Bangalore. Most BHPians from Bangalore might already be knowing about this place as it’s famous for go karting plus many people take their bikes for track days. The track is approximately 1 km long. The track is technically designed ( I am not an expert so that’s what it felt to me). ItThe track is approximately 1 km long. The track is technically designed Overall track feels really interesting but somewhere I feel like the track could be maintained a little better. The track layout: The trainers for the track day were from Apex Racing Academy. Considering it was a 2 day event they did a decent job of spreading the theory and the riding sessions over two days. They taught about the basics of riding posture, vision, riding controls and the ideal racing lines. Now coming to the interesting part lets talk about the bikes which we rode: (These are my observations from riding on just the track. I very well know that these bikes are meant for the oopen roads where they’ll shine in their true colors.) 1. Indian Scout Bobber: It is the mid size cruiser offering from Indian and is the best selling model from the brand. It has a 1130cc (69 cu-in) liquid cooled engine which produces 100 hp of power and 97.6 nm of torque. it weighs 254 kgs. Its only after riding the other bikes that it feels like a mid size bike. The bike sounds great although a little muted compared to the other bikes. This engines pulls really well and has the torque spread throughout the rev range. It was clearly the best handling bike on the track. bike just loses its weight and feels quite agile for a 254 kgs bike. It has an extremely low seat height of 649mm and feels really easy to ride. The riding posture is of a typical cruiser and it will take some time to get used to it if you are used to riding sports bikes. 2. Indian Chief: It is a cruiser which has a huge air cooled 1890cc (116 cu-in) engine. It produces 162 nm of torque. And just like the Harley’s this doesn’t have a published power figures. That Thunderstroke engine is thunderous and that torque needs to be felt. I was clearly not prepared for the torque this bike produces. Just after entering the straights I gave full throttle to the bike and was hit by a sudden wave of torque. It literally pulls like a freight train and I was holding the handlebar tightly as this bike rocketed forward. This bike weighs 315kgs and honestly this bike felt the most cumbersome on the track. This bike feels like it just wants to go straight and it takes genuine effort while taking a corner on this bike. It too has a very low seat height of 660mm but as mentioned earlier this bike feels a little cumbersome to ride. The exhaust sounds just lovely and this bike filled with truck loads of character. Here’s me on the Chief: 3. Indian Pursuit: This bike was the literal star of the event. It had just joined our office fleet a week before the track day and everyone wanted to try the latest bike of the lot. This bike has 1769cc liquid cooled engine which produces 122hp of power and 174nm of torque. It weighs 414kgs. One needs to put in a lot of effort to just even lift it of the stand and straighten the handlebar. One needs to be really confident about his riding skills and technique to ride this bike without dropping it. Stopping the bike and ensuring that you don’t drop the bike is even bigger challenge. Only 3-4 of us out of 12 people in our batch didn’t drop it. Honestly riding this bike is an experience of its own. This bike just loses its weight as soon it starts moving. You can easily take that U-turn on the track without any issues. Unlike the Chief this bike turns in easily and leans beautifully. Once you start riding you’ll easily forget its weight and get immersed in the experience it offers. The torque is spread all over the rev range and the throttle is calibration is amazing. One just feels like going on a road trip right away on this bike. I just loved riding this bike and I really wish to ride it again sometime in the future. Me on the Pursuit: 4. Indian Chieftain: Our batch couldn’t get to ride this bike as it had some electrical issues. All these bikes are our office bikes and many times their electricals are taken out and many new parts are fitted and at times tested on these bikes so its not very unusual to have some minor issues here and there. It uses an air cooled 1819cc (111 cu-in) engine which produces 162 nm of torque. Riders from the first batch who got to ride the Chieftain really liked the bike and said that it feels like a lighter version of the Pursuit. 5. Indian FTR Carbon: There is one more bike which didn’t participate in our ride event and it was the FTR. It wasn’t a part of the ride event because it doesn’t have a crash guard so chances of anyone getting injured if the bike was dropped was pretty high, also its a hooligan and is not very beginner friendly to ride. It is one of my favourite motorcycles overall and not just amongst Indian motorcycles. It has got really good proportions and the carbon version with all the carbon fiber parts looks just stunning in real life.It has 1203cc liquid cooled V-Twin engine which produces 120 hp and 118 nm of torque. It weighs 234 kgs but honesty feels much lighter than that. It has got adjustable Ohlins suspension all around and a factory fitted Akrapovic exhaust. I really wish to get to experience it someday in future. All three bikes together. Final parting shot with my batch for the ride event. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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